Parliament is for people

No one can deny that the Anna Hazare Andolan (AHA) has raised awareness about the need to combat corruption in the political process. However, the AHA has not defined corruption.

| Aug 30, 2011, 12.00 AM IST

Parliament's "Sense of the House Resolution", agreeing "in principle" to a citizens' charter, the lower bureaucracy to be under the Lokpal through appropriate mechanism, and establishment of Lokayuktas in the states, paved the way for Anna Hazare to break his 12-day fast. The impasse was broken after both the government and Team Anna shifted from their maximalist positions. Earlier, the government had taken shelter under administrative and legalistic positions, whilst Team Anna demanded nothing less than the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill when the fast began on August 16. Eventually the breakthrough came after Pranab Mukherjee took over as chief negotiator with a new team of interlocutors to reach out directly to Hazare.

No one can deny that the Anna Hazare Andolan (AHA) has raised awareness about the need to combat corruption in the political process. However, the AHA has not defined corruption. Is it about financial wrongdoing and pilfering of public money? Or does corruption involve misuse of power? If misuse of power is an issue then power flows from control of state institutions but also from social and economic inequalities.

Who is benefiting most from corruption? Yes, the politically powerful, but also the economically powerful in industry, trade and business, an aspect AHA has sidestepped. Both these issues are central to the politics of fighting corruption. AHA's solutions to corruption are moral exhortations and legal enactments. Most of the people who thronged the streets against corruption are from the middle classes who support the campaign against corruption but would be averse to upsetting the status quo that benefits the privileged including them.

Laws and institutions are clearly important to the fight against corruption and yet the upsurge of public opinion developed into a strong anti-political and anti-institution sentiment. At the heart of anti-politics is the question of democracy. "Respect the will of the people" was a common refrain. This is majoritarian democracy which is at variance with the established framework of representative democracy, in which the will of the majority is tempered by constitutional, judicial and other constraints. From demanding that Parliament must pass the pre-drafted legislation bypassing the standing committee to statements that it is the people and not Parliament which is supreme, the campaign questioned the sovereignty of Parliament which can result in emasculation of the parliamentary prerogative to legislate.

There is nothing to stop ano-ther fasting leader from mobilising thousands of people to demand instant legislation or reversing of existing laws. The provocative anti-political sentiments of the AHA appealed to thousands of people because Parliament has been ineffective lately. But in the recent past Parliament has enacted the right to information and employment after pre-legislative debate and changes and modification were made in consultation with civil society groups at the standing committee stage. There is no reason why the same cannot be done again with regard to the Lokpal Bill.

For sure, the AHA jolted the political system. With the political mishandling of the situation, starting with the decision to form a joint drafting committee for a Lokpal Bill, the government not only lost credibility but also the trust of the people who came out on the streets to vent their anger. A weakened government had no choice but to offer some concessions to get Hazare to call off his fast even as parliamentary procedures cannot be short-circuited or bypassed. The face-saving formula was the "Sense of the House" resolution which strikes a balance between the need for strong anti-corruption measures and at the same time does not allow Parliament's authority in legislation to be undermined. But the resolution is not binding, the entire proceedings of the House will be sent to the standing committee and there is no timeline for the completion of the process.

In a rare moment of bipartisanship, MPs cutting across party lines sent out a clear message: lawmaking is the preserve of Parliament. After the seven-hour debate the prime minister remarked: "The Parliament has spoken. The will of Parliament is the will of the people." The much-reviled political class rose to the occasion to ask the government to produce a comprehensive Bill containing the best features of all the Bills in circulation, even as Team Anna had insisted that only its Bill should be considered. The Parliament debate did not focus on the nitty-gritty of the Lokpal Bill which will be discussed in the standing committee thus maintaining the sanctity of the parliamentary process.

This sets the stage for the adoption of a strong and effective Lokpal Bill. This would require Parliament to discuss the really important questions regarding the Jan Lokpal draft that have not been adequately discussed, notably, the pitfalls of setting up a super-institution without proper checks and balances.

Finally, like the previous anti-corruption campaigns - the JP movement in the mid-1970s and the anti- corruption "movement" of V P Singh in the late 1980s - the mood was not only against the political class but against the Congress government. The main objective of the earlier campaigns was regime change; both catapulted the BJP to the centre stage of national politics. The RSS claimed that its cadres formed at least 10% of the AHA's mass base. This time also the RSS was presumably hoping to remove an elected government. Corruption ceased to be the prime political agenda after the removal of the Congress from power in the wake of the anti-corruption campaigns. It remains to be seen whether "India will not be the same again" after the third anti-corruption movement, or corruption will be forgotten hereafter.

The writer is professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

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